Chinchilla Community Forums
Chinchillas => Health => Topic started by: mojito on February 13, 2015, 08:46:46 AM
-
Late last year my chin Dexter went to the vet because he was bloated and not pooping. He's much better now, but I just got a postcard saying he is due for a fecal floatation. I haven't called her so I'm not sure if it's just an automated thing, but I'm currently in parasitology so I'm of course a little paranoid, but I wanted to see if anyone else does full wellness checks for their chins.
I know that some people don't because their chins get anxious going out, but my guys were great at the vet so I don't think that would be a problem. Thanks in advance!
-
As a general rule of thumb I don't take chins to a vet unless there is a problem. The stress of the travel and risk of adding new issues isn't worth it. I run fecals as needed. That can be every month or aver few yrs depending on your chin. If he is acting, eating and pooping normal then I wouldn't worry
-
Did he have a fecal done when you took him in last year? If so did they find anything?
-
No they didn't find anything when they did it last year, it was a gas buildup and they found that through X-rays. And that's what I've heard about taking chins to the vet, but mine didn't seem to mind very much at all, one did only really take to one get tech (he wasn't sick too, he just went so they wouldn't be separated) and so she handled them when they were together but that was really the only thing so I didn't know if others still took them or not if they don't stress about the visit
-
That's good. If there are no symptoms, even if parasites are present, there is unlikely to be enough evidence of them to show up on a culture. Most animals carry parasites like coccidia and they won't become problematic unless they are under stress of some kind.
-
Yea I figured this was an annual thing, I just know I'm more paranoid about parasites since I'm studying them at the moment haha do you do annual vet visits with your chin?
-
Not intentionally, no! But Kulu did have a slight eye irritation and I had him checked out for it so he's good for another year. Because I monitor his weight, food, and water intake so often I don't feel I have to do that. If there is a problem I'll know right away and take him in.
-
Thanks so much:) they are constantly monitored and we keep a close eye out on them I have just seen some instances of people taking them in like other pets annually but it seems like more often people don't do yearly checks. What all started my paranoia was when in class we learned about Bayliscascaris procyonis, a raccoon parasite that can also infect chinchillas the same way 😱